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BUFFALO. 




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PHILADELPHIA: 

J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY. 

1888. 



BUFFALO. 




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PHILADELPHIA: 

J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY. 

188S. 



Copyright, 1888, by J. B. Lippincott Company. 



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B IT F F A L O. 



Buffalo, a city of New York state, capital of Erie 
county, is at the east end of Lake Erie, and at the head 
of Niagara River, in 42° 53' N. lat., and 78° 55' W. 
long. It is about 295 miles NW. of New York city in 
a direct line, but by the Erie Railroad 423 miles; the 
distance from Chicago is 539 miles. In population and 
wealth, Buffalo ranks third among the cities of New 
York. It has a capacious harbour, which has been 
dredged so that vessels of 17 feet draught can enter. 
There is an outer breakwater 4000 feet long, besides 
other breakwaters, piers, basins, and canals, constructed 
by the Federal, state, and municipal governments, at an 
expense of many millions of dollars. Tiie harbour is 
guarded by Fort Porter, which stands two miles out from 
the heart of the city ; close by is the old fort, built in 
1812, and now in ruins. Two miles below, at Black 
Rock, long since included in the city, is the International 
Iron Bridge by which the Grand Trunk Railroad crosses 
the Niagara River. The water front of the city extends 
5 miles along the lake and river, while Buffalo Creek 
has been rendered navigable for over a mile. The com- 
mercial importance of Buffalo dates from the completion 
of the Erie Canal in 1825 ; but since 1862 the lake com- 
merce has yielded to the competition of the railroads. 
The Board of Trade was incorporated in 1857. The 



4 BUFFALO. 

chief business is the receiving, transferring, and storing 
of grain, which employs over tliirty elevators, some of 
them stone structures, others iron and brick, with a total 
capacity of over 8,000,000 bushels. There are also large 
floaters and transports, some of which have a capacity of 
60,000 bushels. The annual amount of grain (including 
flour) received by lake and railroad is from 70,000,000 
to 90,000,000 bushels. The live-stock trade, in which 
Buffalo ranks third among the cities of the Union, bids 
fair shortly to exceed the grain trade in importance; the 
iron and steel works rank next to those of Pittsburg; 
and the shipments of Pennsylvania coal, which finds a 
depot here, have greatly increased in recent years, about 
1,500,000 tons being distributed yearly. The lumber 
trade is also large, but has been partly diverted to Tona- 
wanda, 10 miles below Buffalo, where more room is af- 
forded. The industrial works comprise four blast- 
furnaces, large rolling-mills, machine-shops, car-shops, 
iron shipyards, stove foundries, tanneries, breweries, 
flour-mills, and manufactories of agricultural imple- 
ments, besides many small establishments of all kinds. 
The navigation of Lake Erie usually opens about the 
middle of April, the extreme dates being a month earlier 
and a month later. Several main lines of railroad con- 
nect Buffalo with New York, Philadelphiii, Chicago, and 
Canada, and there is more or less direct communication 
with other principal points. 

Buffalo has wide streets, well paved and lighted, and 
generally lined with trees. It has excellent sewerage, 
and extensive water- works supplied from Niagara River; 
and its healthfulness is attested by the low death-rate of 
14 per 1000. There are five public squares, and the 



BUFFALO. 5 

magnificent park consists of three sections, connected by- 
boulevards which encircle the city. Delaware Avenue, 
the leading street for private residences, is about 3 miles 
long, and is lined with double rows of trees. Main 
Street, the principal trading thoroughfare, has many sub- 
stantial business blocks. The city and county hall is an 
imposing structure of Maine granite, in the form of a 
double Roman cross, with a tower 245 feet high, sur- 
mounted by four statues. The other prominent build- 
ings are the United States custom-house and post-office, 
the state arsenal, the county penitentiary, and a state 
asylum for the insane (in North Buffalo), which has ac- 
commodation for 600 patients. Of the two finest of its 
100 churches, St. Joseph's Cathedral (Roman Catholic) 
is a gray Gothic structure; and St. Paul's (Episcopal), 
in brown stone, was burned in 1888. Among the others 
are 21 Catholic, 15 Methodist, 12 Episcopalian, 12 
Presbyterian, 11 Baptist. The public schools comprise 
36 district schools, a state normal, and the Central High 
School. The Catholics have Canisius College, conducted 
by Jesuits, and St. Joseph's, by the Christian Brothers, 
besides convents and parochial schools. Among the 
private schools, the most noted is the Buffalo Female 
Academy. There are also a medical college and several 
i)usiness colleges. A number of daily newspapers are 
j)ublished, nearly half of them in German. The Gros- 
venor Free (reference) Library has over 25,000 volumes ; 
the Young Men's Association has 45,000 volumes, and 
its building gives accommodation also to the library and 
interesting collections of the Historical Society (founded 
ill 1862), the Society of Natural History, and the Me- 
chanics' Institute. There are also a Fine Arts Academy, 



6 BUFFALO. 

Young Men's Christian Union, and Catholic Institute. 
Among the charitable institutions are six hospitals, a dis- 
pensary, and orphan asylums. There are twenty- one 
cemeteries, the finest being Forest Lawn, with 75 acres. 
Buffalo was founded in 1801 by the Holland Land 
Company. It was burned in 1813 by British and 
Indians. It was incorporated as a city in 1832, and had 
then a population of 15,000, which had increased in 1850 
to 42,300; in 1860 to 81,130; in 1870 to 117,714; in 
1880 to 155,137; and in 1885 to about 203,000. 



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